Germany vs Poland

Germany, a power house of European football kicked off their tournament today against a Poland side who were making their first appearance in a European Championships. 

Jogi Low going with a 4-3-3 formation, with Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez all managing a start. The first 2 strikers, were both born in Poland and were defiantly hoping to have a mark in today`s game, and they surely did.

It was Poland who had the first real chance of the game. Goal keeper Jens Lehmann colided with his own player after failing to deal with a cross and that gave Jacek Krzynowek a wonderful chance to open the scoring, but the midfielder could not control and shot well over.

And just a few minutes later, Klose had the chance to do what Krzynowek could not. An outstanding ball from Michael Ballack found the polish born striker who ran with it and chose to pass it to Gomez instead of going for goal himself. Gomez, who just needed to touch, stretched and missed in what was a sure goal for this German side. 

Germany kept putting the pressure and finally found the back of the net when both their poles joint forces. A stunning ball from Gomez to Klose, as he beat the offside trap and ran down the right hand side before playing it square to his Bayren Munich team mate, and Lukas Podolski made no mistake in slotting home an open goal. As a great gesture to their birth place, both of them did not celebrate that goal, something that made both sets of fans chant their names. 

Leo Beenhakker did not learn to give up while he was at Ajax, Real MAdrid or Holland and that showed when his team uped the tempo and started taking the game to their much more glamorous opponents. And they almost got their reward in the 35th minute. Mariusz Lewandowski gave in a low cross from the right hand side but Maciej Zurawski shot wide of the far post. SO near yet so far.

Just minutes later Low`s men had a mirror image of their opponent`s miss when a Fritz cross was dragged wide of the far post by Gomez. 

A perfect first half from a neutral`s point of view, by far the best in the opening stages of the euro 2008.

Whatever Leo Beenhakker said at half time seemed to be working as Poland started the second half with a lot of energy. 

Lewandowski`s shot from distance went just wide of the post. But the scare wasent over for Germany. Second half substitute Roger ran past the defense before forcing a conner off the former Arsenal keeper. 

But quality cannot be denied and Low`s men got back into the game with chances of their own, none better than the one in the 70th minute when Lahm`s cross from the right found Michael Ballack and the german captain shot with all his power only to be denied by a stupendous finger tip save by Polish number 1 Artur Boruc.

But just a minute later, the german-polish due struck again. Bastian Schweinsteiger, who came on for Clemens Fritz, gave the ball to Klose, who completely mis-hit it, before his team mate from club and country,  Lukas Podolski, hit the top conner with the volley. The 23 year old`s second strike made him the tournament`s top scorer but just like the first goal, he did not celebrate this one either. 

Germany now took their foot off the gas and stayed alert at the back. Roger, who had caused most problems for the 3rd placed team from the world cup, crossed it from the right forcing a double save from Lehmann and Saganowski called him back to action with another shot, but the 39 year old deals well with it. 

That ended up being the last real chance of the game and Germany claimed 3 precious points and sent a message out to all 15 other teams that they are here and they mean business. Poland on the other hand also showed that they are no push overs and Austria and Croatia would have to work their socks out if they want anything from Leo Beenhakker`s side.